hatred

“Love your enemies.” Here we have the climax of what Christian life together can look like if we develop into the type of people who can do these things. Let’s review.

If we become the type of person who is centered on Jesus we don’t need to be angry when we feel personally attacked. We understand that there isn’t anything we can do out of anger that can’t be done better without anger. Jesus is not talking about a gut response, he is focusing on anger we allow to simmer and it ends up as contempt.

Contempt is the end result of anger unchecked and it is especially harmful. In contempt, we are treating a person as a non-person and Jesus always cares for people, no matter what. So, in contempt we find ourselves directly opposed to the will of God. When we become the kind of people who are not controlled by anger or contempt, we can deal with obsessive passions in our daily life, in particular obsessive sexual fantasy.

With Jesus greater than our anger, contempt, and obsessive lust, care and graciousness in our most intimate relationships becomes possible. No where is this more important than in our relationship with our spouse. We become the kind of people who can truly have his/her best interest at heart.

This attitude of graciousness moves outside the immediate family and we become transparent and real in our dealings with others. We don’t need to try to persuade or manipulate others to agree with our point of view or do what we want them to do. We simply make a request.

In our dealings with others we will be wronged, but we are always anchored to Jesus so lasting harm does not affect us. We can choose to trust Jesus will do what is exactly right by them. This carries on to those who choose to work against us. Those who “hate” us. We truly will their good and pray that God will work in their lives, as well as our own.

Now, if we can become this kind of person in our Christian communities, other Christians will become this kind of person to us. Together, we become a powerful example to the transformation that can happen through Jesus. We become an attractive influence on potential disciples who will want to know more about Him because they know us.